Andrew T

Have a look at My Tyres. Make sure you click the box for reinforced. If you click on details against each tyre it brings up test results (although not always in English). The Nokian NRVi seems to compare well with the big name brands.

I put Michlelin Pilot Alpins on my Civic a couple of months ago. The cost was comparable with 4 Season Michelins. First impressions are good, there is no disadvantage in terms of road noise or wear as far as I can tell after 2000 miles or so. We've had a few icy days recently and they do seem to hang on well and then breakaway progressively. Another advantage is that if you have them on steel rims, it saves alloy wheels from being attacked by road salt. If they wear as well as 4 season tyres, then in the long term there is no cost penalty beyond buying a set of steel rims, which can often be picked up for very little from someone who has changed to alloys (

If the problem happened in heavy rain it's most likely your scuttle drains, but don't assume your washer pipe isn't leaking as well. If the passenger carpet is wet, the acoustic matting underneath will be sodden and it is an absolute bugger to remove. It seems to be moulded as a single unit with the driver’s side. I ended up sawing out the passenger footwell section using a short bladed "Kitchen Devil" knife. A stanley knife won’t go through it. I then put a small fan heater in car for a few hours to dry up the surrounding area. When you remount the control unit, put some nuts near the top of the studs, which will keep the unit out of the water if (when?) it happens again. Have fun.

Our 01 Facelifted Galaxy has the Locking and Window control unit there, but not the Engine Control unit. Although when we had a flood it put the engine fault light on, but it cleared the next day of its own accord. If they have finally moved it to a safe location, well about bloody time too!

Look under the passenger seat and you will find the "Black Box" that controls the windows and locking is sitting in a puddle of water. Remove it right now and put it in an airing cupbpoard or on a radiator and you may save having to replace it. While its drying out search "Scuttle drains" and "Rear Washer pipe".

You should have the torque of the head bolts checked and tightened if necessary after 1000 miles.

When we got ours I rang a Ford dealer and checked, and yes the 2.3 is a "lifetime" chain. I Hope its lifetime is longer than than the 100,000 miles suggested on another thread for the VR6! :P

Do a search, I know there is an answer because I've done this myself but can't remember exactly how. It involves holding the milometer button down whilst switching on the ignition, but I think it needs to have detected that the bonnet has been opened and closed first. Have you looked in the Handbook? I think it's in there as well.

Perhaps the supplier swapped the spare with another Galaxy and screwed up the winch while he was doing it ?

If you press it twice in quick succession (within 2 secs IIRC) the hazards give a second flash and the LED in the drivers door stops flashing. You can also push the driversdoor lock in from the rear door, which also inhibits the alarm.

It should say in your handbook if the light should come on with starting. usually they do, but I've known cars where it only comes on in the event of a malfunction.

I can't give you an answer, but I share your concern. I believe that for the long term health of your A/C system it is vital that it is used at least a few minutes a week to lubricate the seals in the system. In our previous car the automatic temperature control could be overiden and the A/C switched on. When it was sold at 7years old the A/C system have never been touched. It seems that with the automatic system on the Galaxy it is impossible have the A/C cooling until the Outside temperature is just below the interior temp. Or does the A/c work when selecting defrost ? if so I've not felt the compressor "kick in" or have I missed something ?

When I did this a few years ago (not in a Galaxy) the RAC would ony recover me to an approved garage who would pump the tank out. Exactly how they did this I'm not sure, I would have thought there was something in the filler pipe to prevent a tube being inserted to syphon the fuel out, so I guess they pumped it out from the fuel filter. They charged

Your coolant could be leaking into the Matrix then evaporating into the airstream from the Heater. FWIW though, I was convinced I had this problem on a previous car, with a consistant slight coolant loss but no external leaks. Eventually the Radiator failed, and on removing it I found that it had obviously been leaking for months judging by the crystalised antifreeze deposits on it. Due to the position of the Radiator and the undertray it never leaked onto the ground, and was impossible to see without actually removing the Radiator.

By leaking into the incoming air from the Heater Matrix ? You could try putting Radweld or Barrs into the cooling system and see if it that will seal it.

Galaxy Gearbox

Take the plastic trim off, take a deep breath and put you hand between the underlay and floor....... If you are unlucky you may just need to look in the well under the passenger seat, then read this.

Yes, gave it over 5 minutes with the engine revving at 2500rpm, the Galaxy was certainly getting a charge because it went from being as dead as a Do-Do to being able to crank, but not fire up. But the second I started it with the Honda battery fitted it fired. I trickle charged it overnight and it showed 12.54 Volts this morning, now that I've found a battery to go in my multimeter. BTW, It was also making strange sucking noises from somewhere behind the CC panrel. :rolleyes:

Thankyou both for your advice. Prices so far for calcium batteries with 4 years gaurantee, Halfords

Is the Galaxy known to be tricky to jump-start ? Even with a thick pair of jump leads my Galaxy wasn't turning over quickly enough to start. In the end I installed the seven year old old battery off my Honda (which is about two-thirds of the size of the one on the Galaxy) and it started instantly. I then drove to the top of the hill and put the dead battery back on and the Galaxy bump started first go. Is there some trick I've missed ? :rolleyes:

First cold night of the Autumn and we have a dead battery. From what I can find on the forum 3.5 years is actually quite good for a Calcium battery. The only place I can source a Calcium battery is Ford at

Many thanks Bigjeeze, that's what I needed to know. Oily mitts and lots of cursing for me this weekend.

Go for it , I managed to get Vauxhall to pay 75% of the cost of the premature failure of the cam rollers on our Vectra. Write to Ford Customer Relations stressing your loyalty as a customer, the full dealer history and your disappointment in the quality of their product.